God's Word: Petition and Promises

Psalm 119, verse number 41, Solomon speaks of his love for the Lord, and his love for the Word of God Let me ask you a question, do you love God's Word? Do you love God's Word more than anything else? Solomon says, quite clearly, I shall delight in thy commandments, which I love, verse 47 And then he says, and I shall lift up my hands to thy commandments, which I love He would go on and reiterate that over and over again He says in Psalm 119, verse number 97, oh how I love thy law He says down in verse number 113, I hate those who are double-minded, but I love thy law

Verse 119, thou hast removed all the wicked of the earth like dross, therefore I love thy testimonies Verse 127, therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yes above fine gold Verse 140, thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loves it Verse 159, consider how I love thy precepts Verse 163, I hate and despise falsehood, but I love thy law. 165, those who love thy law have great peace and nothing causes them to stumble Verse 167, my soul keeps thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly The psalmist loves the law of God He loves the commandments of God He loves the word of God

So let me ask you, do you love God's holy word? Do you love it more than anything? A lot of people say they love the word of the Lord, but they spend very little time in the word of the Lord It's like saying, you know, I love my wife, but never spend any time with her So how do you know, how do we know you love your wife if you never spend any time, how does she know you love her if you never spend time with her, right? So when we say we love the law of the Lord, when we say we love the word of God, that means we want to spend time in the word

We spend a lot of time reading books about the word You ever notice that? We like to read books about the word, but we don't like to read the word As if the books about the word somehow are more important than the word itself But the psalmist didn't say, oh, I love to read books about the word He says, I love the word of God

Wouldn't it be good if we were able to look at your own calendar and your checkbook that would tell us what you love? The two indicators of man's life, his calendar, his checkbook, express to us what he loves, where he spends his time and what he spends his time doing and what he spends his money on Now, let me ask you again, do you love the law of the Lord? Where do you spend your time? And where do you spend your money? Because that would tell you how much you truly love the word of God The psalmist craved God's word He loved it so deeply He wanted it to be a part of his life

There would be no expense so great that would keep him from loving that law There would be nothing more important than him spending time in that law Because it was the most important thing to him And so we need to come to grips with how much we love the word of the Lord. I'm a preacher of the word and I study the word of the Lord every day of the week But I can't say like the psalmist says, oh how I love thy law

It is my meditation all the day. I can't say it like he can say it. I wish I could and I'm praying that God will do a work in my heart so I learn to love his word more than I actually do. I do love the word of the Lord Sometimes it's like Peter, when the Lord asked Peter, do you love me? He said, yeah I do, I do love you Lord And Christ said, but Peter do you really love me? And Peter said, oh Lord you know all things You know You know what's in my heart And the Lord does, doesn't he? He knows what's there He knows what's in your heart He knows whether or not you love his law

Remember when you were saved? You first were born again Got excited about the things of God, the word of God Got your first brand new Bible Cherished that baby, took it wherever you went Held it tight, read it And then something happens over time We don't cherish it like we used to Don't read it as often Kind of sits on the shelf We dust it off to bring it to church But we don't spend the time studying, meditating, memorizing, longing for what God has in his word for us And yet the psalmist says, I love your commandments. I love your law That was what his heart panted for

Because he knew that in there he could see his Lord He knew that in the law of God he saw God That's what the word of God is about It's all about the Lord God, right? It's about him Remember years ago I did a little sermon called Why the Man of God Loves the Word of God Anybody remember that sermon? One? One? Maybe we should preach it again Nobody remembers it Why the Man of God Loves the Word of God. I preached it on Father's Day 2005 So it's two years ago this month, right? Because I wanted people to know why the man of God loves the word of God

He loves it because it saves his soul. I mean, think about it We're saved because of the word of the Lord, right? It saves my soul It soothes my anxious spirit Only God's word does that It solidifies the convictions of the man of God For in the word of God we see the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ We see him Remember Christ said to the religious establishment, oh you search the scriptures for in them you think that you have eternal life, but you have forgotten that they speak of me They speak of me

So when you read the Bible and you don't see Jesus, you didn't read it right because it's all about Jesus It's all about his great messiahship, his great kingship, his great plan and purpose for salvation of man So when we read the word of God, we read it to see Jesus Christ our Lord The psalmist loved the law of God because he knew that in that law was the perfect profile, the perfect picture of his God And the more he saw his God, the more he would become like that God And this text this evening helps explain to us whether or not we truly love the law of God It's about petitions

It's about promises It's about the petitions the psalmist makes because he loves the law of God And it's the promises he makes to God because he loves his law. I'll read the odd verses, you read the even verses Psalm 119 verse number 41 May thy loving kindness also come to me, O Lord, thy salvation according to thy word And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I wait for thine ordinances And I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts And I shall delight in thy commandments, which I love Two petitions, two requests the psalmist makes

One is about the mercy of God and the other is about his own personal ministry God's mercy, his ministry The two go hand in hand It will help you understand how your prayer life should be focused when it comes to looking at what God has for you The psalmist says this May thy loving kindnesses or may thy mercies also come to me, O Lord, thy salvation according to thy word It's God's mercy, it's God's salvation and it's God's word You know we like to speak sometimes of our salvation as my salvation But it's really God's salvation, right? He's the one who saves us

Philippians chapter 1 verse number 29 says that we have been granted the opportunity to believe for Christ's sake Why do we believe in the gospel? For our sake? No For Christ's sake Isaiah 45, 23 says we are forgiven, not for our sake, but for God's sake It's all about God Forgiveness is about God Salvation is about God Mercy is about God It's all about God And so he says I need your mercy. I need your salvation. I need it to come from your word It's all about God It's all about his word The psalmist understands that And so he cries out to God

He petitions his God because he knows that because of his great mercies he is saved Titus 3 verse number 5 You know that verse Titus 3 verse number 5 says he saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to his mercy by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the spirit He saved us according to his mercy It's not about us, our deeds, our works It's about his mercy And so the psalmist cries for God to bestow mercy upon him The salvation of God to come to him That God would save him from his enemies That God would deliver him

And that God would do everything according to his word You can read about Psalm 103 and Psalm 145 about the mercies of almighty God They are great, they are abundant, and they come from God But listen to this petition The psalmist says, Lord if your mercy comes to me and your salvation comes to me because of your word, he says this, so I shall have an answer for him who reproaches me for I trust in thy word You see the psalmist needed an answer because he would be reproached for the name of Christ Whenever you identify yourself with Christ, you will bear the reproach of Christ

Whenever you live for Christ, you will bear the reproach of Christ The Bible says that all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution If you want to live for the Lord, then you're going to suffer greatly for the Lord The Bible is very clear about that In fact, the Bible says over in the book of John the 15th chapter, the 18th verse, these words, if the world hates you you know that it has hated me before it hated you

If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you If they kept my word, they will keep yours also Christ says very clearly that listen, they're going to treat you the way they treat me, because you're one of mine The psalmist knows that he needs the mercy of God to come to him

And the Bible speaks about God's mercies being plenteous, being abundant, being everlasting, being great, being tender, and Lord I need your mercies, because God's mercy is his loving kindness, his acts of kindness to those who are miserable And only God can bestow mercy upon someone in the state of their misery And so he asks God, because he needs to have an answer to those who reproach him, those who slander him, those who accuse him Remember, Satan is that great diabolos, that great slanderer, that great accuser of the brethren That's who Satan is And so Satan seeks to slander the believer

He does it through people that come into our lives and seek to destroy our lives And so we need to know how to respond to people who slander us In fact, the Bible says these words, you know the words over in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse number 13, and who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed, and do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts Or in other words, set apart Christ as the ultimate preeminent one in your heart

Always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence, and keep a good conscience, so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame Peter says the same thing the psalmist says You've got to be ready to give an answer You've got to be ready to give a defense, an apologia You've got to be ready to defend the truth, and speak the truth If someone asks why you are the way you are, you must be able to speak the truth, give an answer

And your behavior must be such that those who see you cannot slander you any further, because your life matches your conversation Over in 1 Peter 2, verse number 12, Peter said it this way, You see, it's inevitable that we, as believers, will bear the reproach of Christ If you live for God, you will be slandered because of your God That's just the way it is The psalmist knows that, so he asks God for mercy He asks God to bestow mercy upon him, the mercy that comes specifically through his word, so that when people speak to him and slander him, he is able to answer them intelligently

Speak to them about the truth You know, it's important to understand something Turn with me to Luke chapter 6 In my own personal study for Sunday morning, this is where I am Luke chapter 6 And in verse 20 and following, we have what some people call a synopsis of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 Others think, no, it's not the same sermon, it's a different sermon, because it's not on a mount, it's on a plane So this is the Sermon on the Plane versus Matthew 5, 6 and 7, which is the Sermon on the Mount

But there are a lot of similarities, there are a lot of parallels between what Luke says in Luke 6, 20 and following and what Matthew records in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 Well, if it's a different sermon, if it's the same sermon, Christ says basically the same thing. I'm not saying that Christ had a canned sermon so that everywhere he went he always said the same thing But what I'm saying is that what Christ spoke on, he spoke concerning true Christianity True Christianity And what he did as he spoke about that, he talks about those who are blessed and those who are cursed

The blessed ones are the ones who are truly genuine Christians The cursed ones are those who are not And then he goes on down to verse number 27 and talks about true love So I've entitled the sermon in Luke 6 verses 27 and following true love People like to talk about love What is love? Well, this is true love This is genuine love This is the way you are to love People like to talk, yeah, I love my wife, I love my kids, I love my job, I love my God, I love his word But they don't understand true love

Jesus says this in Luke 6 verse 27, but I say to you who hear, those are the blessed ones in the previous verses, those who are able to hear the word of God, he says this, love your enemies Folks, this is true love This is true love Love your enemies He says it again in verse number 35, but love your enemies True love is about loving your enemies Who is your enemy? Well, your enemy are those back up in verse number 22, blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you, cast insults at you, spurn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man Those are your enemies

And Jesus says those are the people you are to love This is true love We can talk about loving our wife and loving our kids, and that's all fine and dandy, you need to do that But the test of your love is how you treat those who are your enemy So listen to what Jesus says He says, I say to you who hear, love your enemies How do you do that? Do good to those who hate you Bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you That's how you love your enemies Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either

Give to everyone who asks of you and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back And just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way In other words, this is what you do If you're going to love your enemy, you treat them the way you want to be treated Don't treat them the way you think they need to be treated You treat your enemy the way you want to be treated Now listen to this Jesus says, and if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them Now think about that for a moment We always love people who love us

We want people to love us If they love us, we love them in return And Jesus says, you know what? That's just not a big deal Because that's what sinners do That's what pagans do That's what the immoral people do Everybody loves somebody who loves them So if you want to love somebody who loves you, no big deal That's not the test of true love True love is loving those who hate you That's true love And then listen to this He says, and if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same

So if you think that doing good to people is a good thing because they've done good to you, Jesus says, sinners do that So what makes you think that that makes you any better than a normal sinner? It doesn't Because people in my kingdom do good to those who do not do good to them People in my kingdom love those who don't love them Remember Jesus exemplified that He loved us while we were his what? Enemies He didn't wait until we loved him for him to love us He'd still be waiting He loved us while we were his enemies But this text gets even better Listen to this

And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount So if you give to somebody who has a need and expect them to give back to you, what is that? Sinners do that That's what the world does But when you give to your enemy, when you know he'll never give back to you, that's love That's love Now true love is tested, isn't it? True love really is under the microscope We just can't go around saying that we really truly love people unless we understand what Christ is saying in Luke chapter 6

But it gets better Listen to this Verse 35 But love your enemies He goes back and repeats it just in case you didn't get it the first time around Love your enemies and do good and lend expecting nothing in return Folks that should govern that should be the verse on every marriage certificate There it is Expect nothing in return We go through life with all these expectations We go through life expecting our spouse to return the favor, to return the deed, to return the love We go through life thinking that if I do good to somebody in my church, they're going to return the favor

If I pat them on the back, they'll pat me on the back Everybody's going to be happy campers Everything's going to be okay It's not that way Christ says love your enemies Do good to them and never expect them to ever repay you Don't expect that And then he says this And your reward will be great Now, people say, well, yeah When I die and go to heaven, I'll have a great reward No, no, no, no That's not what it says He's already talked about that He talked about that earlier when he says in verse 23, be glad in that day, that is when people ostracize you and speak against you, and leap for joy

For behold, your reward is great in heaven He's already talked about your reward in heaven But what now he's talking about is your reward right here Your reward here will be great You want to receive a great reward? You love your enemy You do good to those who cannot repay you You do good to those and expect nothing in return, and you will see a great reward How? He says this And you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men

If you do good to those who hate you, if you pray for those who persecute you, if you love your enemy, do you know what you tell people? You're a Christian You're a son of the Most High God And they will understand the essence of God, for he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men How many of you really want to be like God? You want to be God-like? You want to be Christ-like? You've got to be good to hateful and evil people See, this is all supernatural stuff This isn't natural stuff We don't come by this naturally

People don't wake up and say, man, who is my enemy? Can I go wrap my arms around them, maybe give them a car or buy them a house, or let me do that to my enemy No one wakes up and wants to do that Because that's just not natural It's supernatural It can only be accomplished through the Spirit of God in you because God is the one who loves his enemies God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us We are the enemies of God And he gave his life away Big difference, you see Big difference But it gets better

You still with me? This is a great text. I can't wait to get to it It's going to be a couple of months, but it's going to be a great text to get to It says this in verse 36, Be merciful just as your Father is merciful Now you can't be merciful unless you've obtained mercy, right? Unless you've received mercy, you cannot bestow mercy on somebody else And then it says this, And do not judge, and you will not be judged And do not condemn, and you will not be condemned Pardon, and you will be pardoned

In other words, if you do good to people who are evil to you, if you forgive the unforgivable, if you do not judge them and condemn them, guess what? That evil person will not judge you and condemn you, and will forgive you That's what God's saying In fact, he says this, Give, and it will be given to you Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap For by your standard and measure, it will be measured to you in return Christ is saying that in the kingdom, there are people who love their enemies

If they do good to those who are evil to them, they pray for those who persecute them, they reach out and expect nothing in return, and they do not judge them, and therefore they will not be judged by them They forgive, and they will be forgiven Remember when the Lord said in the book of Proverbs, When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him That's what Jesus is saying in Luke chapter 6

And the reward is great, because they will see Christ in you, and that's the greatest reward one can ever have, to be able to be recognized by others as a follower of God, a true servant of the living God The psalmist says, I need your mercy. I need it according to your word, so I will have an answer to those who slander me Guess what? Jesus in Luke 6 just gave you the answer to those who slander you He gives you the answer This is what you do This is how you handle it This is our response

And the psalmist is petitioning God, I need this from you Lord. I need to know how to answer these people. I need to know how to speak to them. I need to know how to give them an answer What do I say? How do I say it? You give them the gospel Give them the truth of the word of God If you do good to those who hate you, you give them the good news You give them the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord that will save their soul That's important So the psalmist is asking, Lord I need your mercy. I need your mercy Think about it this way When you go through life we pray for lots of things

We petition God for all kinds of things But we should be petitioning God to bestow mercy upon us day by day Remember Lamentations? It's because of his mercies we are not consumed Lord I need your mercy today Why? Because when I am slandered I need to know how to answer those who slander me How to speak to those who speak against you, your word and me How do I do that? And then he goes from God's mercy to his ministry That's the second petition Back to Psalm 119 He says this in verse 43, And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I wait for thine ordinances

Lord do not deprive me of the opportunity to speak the truth This is his ministry His ministry is to speak the truth His ministry is to be able to speak forthrightly those things He will speak in a minute about going before kings with boldness so that he is not ashamed to speak the truth You see he knows that if God bestows mercy upon him then God will enable him to effectively minister for him And his ministry is about speaking the truth Folks this is how our lives should be This is what our prayer life should be consumed with

It should be consumed with God's mercy being bestowed upon us so that our ministry will be intact So our ministry will be one of speaking the truth to those who need to hear it Remember Paul in Colossians chapter 4 It says in verse number 2 Devote yourselves to prayer keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving praying at the same time for us as well that God may open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have also been imprisoned He says I want the Lord to open a door

Not the door of the prison so I can walk out but the door for the gospel to go forth while I'm in the prison You see Paul always had a ministry and that ministry was to speak forth the truth of God no matter what prison he was in no matter what circumstance he found himself That's what his life was about

And so he needed the mercy of God in order to minister for God and so the petitions of the psalmist were around God's mercy and his ministry to speak the truth of God and then he makes six promises six promises that he might fulfill in light of his God Psalm 119 says this So I will keep thy law continually forever and ever

That's dedication I will keep thy law continually forever and ever this is his dedication Lord I need your mercy if your mercy comes to me so I can minister for you to speak forth the truth I will keep your law forever and ever I will keep it continually because through your word comes mercy through your word comes your salvation from your word I have the answers I need to speak to those who slander me and I can continue to minister the gospel I can continue to minister the truth Lord and therefore that will enable me to continue keeping the law of God continually forever and forever the psalmist on many occasions would talk about his desire to keep the law of God over in verse 8 he says I shall keep thy statutes over in verse number 17 he says deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word verse number 34 give me understanding that I may observe thy law and keep it with all my heart he wants to keep the law of God that's his dedication I want to keep your law Lord I want to keep it continually forever and ever and then you move from his dedication to number 2 his demonstration he says this and I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts I will walk freely doesn't mean I will be able to walk around and do whatever I want to do it means I will be free to live in light of your word freedom in Christ is freedom to live as God wants us to live freedom in Christ is not living as I want to live it's living as God wants me to live that's why Christ said in John 8 32 if you know the truth that truth will set you free set you free from what? set you free from Satan's bondage set you free from living according to your own desires and living according to God's desires and God's design for your life and the psalmist says listen not only will there be a dedication on my part for I will keep your law but there will be a demonstration on my part I will walk Lord at liberty for I seek thy precepts you know there's one thing about the godly man the man who loves the law of God the commands of God are never burdensome to him they never weigh him down they never take him down he doesn't feel under the gun with the word of God he never feels oh man I gotta do this for God oh what a burden the man of God didn't feel that way he feels oh this is a great opportunity that God's given to me I can't wait to serve him God's word says this I'll do that God wants me to go here I'll go here God says this I'll do that whatever God says I'll do that's the man of God he says I will walk at liberty because I am seeking thy precepts you see to walk in freedom is to walk seeking after the commands and precepts of God the freedom to do that the freedom to obey him the freedom to follow him so he's going to demonstrate his dedication so he goes from dedication to demonstration to number three proclamation he says and I will also speak of thy testimonies before kings and shall not be ashamed Lord I pray your mercy comes to me I pray that your salvation comes to me through your word and I pray Lord that through that you give me the answer I need to hinder those who slander me for I'm committed to your truth and I will speak your word don't take your truth out of me utterly that I might be able to continue to speak the truth because that's my ministry Lord if those things happen then my life will be able to keep the truth of your word and I will walk at liberty and I will speak and never be ashamed you know a lot of times we are ashamed to speak for God because our petitions to God are not right our petitions are not asking God to bestow his mercy upon us so that we will speak to those who slander against us the psalmist says I will not be ashamed when I stand before kings in other words it's not necessarily that he's going to have to stand before every king but that when he stands before those who are in high authority he has no shame he has no embarrassment he stands strong boy that is so good isn't that the way we need to be I mean think of it with the apostle Paul he said I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God and salvation to the Jew first and also the Greek I'm not ashamed listen to what Christ said over in Matthew chapter 10 he said these words verse 16 behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves therefore be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves but beware of men for they will deliver you up to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues and you shall even be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles but when they deliver you up do not become anxious about how or what you will speak for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak for it is not you who speak but it is the spirit of your father who speaks in you Christ says you are going to go out and represent me when you do know what they are going to do they are going to throw you into court they are going to throw you into prison but you know what my spirit will teach you what to say remember in Acts chapter 9 when the Lord converted Saul he said these words we told Ananias to go to him he says go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel for I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake you go to Saul you tell him he is going to bear my name before kings, kings! you come to Acts chapter 23 and Paul is in prison it says this Acts 23 verse 11 when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to him why is he sitting in prison? but on the night immediately following the Lord stood at his side and said take courage Paul for as you have solemnly witnessed to my cause at Jerusalem so you must witness at Rome also you are going to go before kings Paul and Paul was never ashamed he always spoke the truth and in 2 Timothy chapter 1 he is in prison in the Mamertine prison all alone everybody has deserted him he is all by himself he tells Timothy don't be ashamed of the gospel suffer for the sake of the gospel and for the testimony of those who share your faith why? because I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have entrusted unto him until that day and here was the psalmist I will speak for my God before kings I will not be ashamed that's the way we should be we should never be ashamed to speak the truth of God for it is the power of God unto salvation so the psalmist says these are my promises dedication demonstration proclamation and then celebration I verse 47 shall delight in thy commandments which I love I shall delight in thy commandments which I love this again is a theme of the psalmist in verse 16 verse 24 verse 35 verse 70 verse 77 verse 70 excuse me 127 it's all about delighting in the commandments of God there was a celebratory spirit of the psalmist and that celebration stems from his love for God and that's why you go from celebration to adoration because then he says and I shall lift up my hands to thy commandments which I love now think about that now I lift up my hands to thy commandments it implies three things number one it implies a readiness to obey the commandments of God it implies a readiness to obey whatever God says when someone reaches up their hand it's almost as if they are longingly stretching forth their hand because they are in desperate need like someone drowning reaches forth their hand because they are in desperation to live the psalmist says I am desperate to obey your commandments so I lift up my hands this is adoration to God I celebrate you I adore you for who you are and I lift up my hands to your commandments because I'm ready to obey your word and not only is he ready to obey the word of God he is going to rely upon the word of God to stretch forth my hands to thy commandments means that not only am I going to grasp them but I will hold onto them and rely upon them as if they are all there is in life that's adoration that's complete submission to the lordship of Christ Lord I love you I love your law and I love it so much I am going to reach for it I stretch forth my hands longingly to grasp your commandments because I'm ready to obey and I'm going to rely on them for my life every single moment of every single day and that's a psalmist commitment that's his promise it begins with a dedication to keep the law of God it moves to a demonstration to walk at liberty as he seeks the precepts of God it moves to a proclamation to speak forth the word of God and not be ashamed for the way he walks in his freedom and then it speaks of a celebration I'm going to delight in your commandments why because he's seen them at work in his life and not only is he going to celebrate them he's going to adore them that's his adoration which leads to the last aspect and that's his meditation and I will meditate on thy statutes I will do this I will meditate I shall lift up my hands I shall delight I will also speak I will walk and I will keep this is his promise to God when was the last time you made a promise to God when was the last time you promised God that you would walk at liberty seeking his precepts when was the last time you made a promise to God that you would keep his law continually forever and ever when was the last time you made a commitment to God that you would delight in the commandments of God because you love them so when was the last time you made a promise to God that Lord I will stretch out my hands I will lift up my hands to grasp to keep your commandments because I love them so Lord you have my word that I will rely upon what your word says and I will be ready to obey whatever your word says that's my commitment Lord to you and then the commitment of meditation yes I will meditate upon thy statutes when was the last time you sat alone in a quiet room we don't like to do that we have to have tv, radio, computer, cd ipod, mp3 whatever those things are we got to have them going in the ear all the time we just can't live without noise we got to have noise no one likes to sit and meditate upon the word of God the psalmist says I'm making a promise Lord I'm going to meditate upon your statutes I'm going to sit and I'm going to ponder you when was the last time you did that think about the crucifixion and the sacrifice on your behalf to sit and think about that you were the enemy of God he loved you so much he died for you to sit and think about how it is he responded to all those who slandered him so you know how to respond to those who slander you you see we don't spend much time thinking much about anything because we're just too busy we're too busy we don't live in a thinking world anymore we live in a visual world it's all visual tv, computer got to see it and it's the dumbing down of America we're getting dumber we're not getting smarter everything is at ease for us now and so to sit and contemplate and to ponder God and to think about the magnitude of a sacrifice for us we have a hard time doing because we always have to have something before our eyes and God says you have my word before your eyes read my word meditate upon my law see what I have said and obey and the psalmist says I love your law that's why he could delight in it that's why he could obey it that's why he would reach for it to grasp it because he loved it so much when you love something you'll do all you can to get a hold of it and never let it go that was the psalmist may that be us tonight let's pray

Father thank you for this great day the opportunity you've given to us to study the word of God what a joy it is to realize that you have the answer to those who slander us and your mercy bestowed upon us through your word and your spirit will enable us to speak forth the truth of your word may we be like the psalmist Lord who petition you for your mercy to enable us to fulfill our ministry and to promise you that we will keep your word that we will walk in liberty as we seek your precepts that we will speak that truth to kings and those in authority and will completely delight in the law of God

Why? because we love it so and we learn to love it all the more because of tonight we pray in Jesus name amen.